Asters
by Icie911
Summary: Daffodils, asters, candytufts, roses. The Shonen Tantei Dan are meeting Conan outside the Mouri Detective Agency on a bright, sunny morning. But not any morning. It's a certain Edogawa Conan's (and now that we mention it, a certain Kudo Shinichi's) birthday. Ayumi wanted to gift him flowers, so Haibara decided to as well. And everyone knows that each flower has a meaning.. Oneshot.


**A/N:** I'm a bad girl. I know, I know. I should be editing _Bittersweet Black Memories_ or updating _Twisted __Time_. But I had the idea of flowers… and DC… and I didn't want to do my English essay… so it ended up with this (not-so) lovely one-shot. Enjoy! :D

._. Or not, I guess…

Disclaimer: DC is not mine… or I'd be a lot richer than I am. I am like… dirt poor. Dirt.

-Icie911

* * *

Conan blinked.

"Let me get this straight," he said slowly. "You guys are giving me…_flowers__._"

"For your birthday," Ayumi added helpfully. A shy smile crossed her face. "You know, Conan, every flower means something."

Conan scratched his head. "Huh."

"What do you mean, 'huh'?" Mitsuhiko waved his arms angrily. "These ladies are giving you flowers, _symbolic_ flowers, for your birthday! At least say thank you!"

Conan grimaced. _Ladies?_ He raised an eyebrow at Haibara. She and the kids had met him in front of the Mouri Agency, right before they had planned on going to the soccer field. It was a clear Sunday morning. Out of _nowhere_ she and Ayumi had produced the flowers with a flourish, reminding him that today was his birthday. He'd completely forgotten.

"Um, so…" Ayumi's face turned pink. She held a slender, delicate bouquet of roses. Most were white lilac and deep violet, and a large, single red rose was clearly the centerpiece. It was in full bloom, each petal soft and fragrant, bursting with color. "H-h-here. H-happy birthday C-conan!" She thrust the bouquet in Conan's face, who took it after a moment of surprise.

"Thanks, Ayumi," he smiled at her, clasping the bouquet delicately. He lightly sniffed the flowers, then looked up at Ayumi. "They're beautiful." Ayumi's face turned a deeper shade of pink.

"It was n-no problem," she looked down shyly, fidgeting. "S-so, you know what roses mean, right…?" She mustered the courage to look into Conan's face, then immediately turned away, blushing harder.

Conan felt uncomfortably warm. "Sort of…" he muttered under his breath.

"What do you mean, _sort of_?" Mitsuhiko's voice was superior as he rejoined the conversation. "Roses in general stand for undying and passionate love!"

Conan sweat-dropped as Ayumi blushed furiously. _Undying and passionate love…? Aren't we still a bit young for that?_

Mitsuhiko continued, oblivious to Haibara's smirk and Ayumi's (not to mention Conan's) discomfort. "Red roses are the classic symbol of love," Mitsuhiko informed, "and is most commonly known as the lovers rose, signifying enduring passion. However, pale amethyst and deeper lavender roses represent enchantment and love at first sight." Ayumi seemed to shrink in embarassment. Mitsuhiko wrinkled his eyebrows as a revelation seemed to hit him. "Wait a minute. How could you think… him…" his face turned red as he spluttered. "_Enchantment…_? What's so good about him?!"

Conan glared at him. _Thanks._ "Oi Mitsuhiko. How do you know so much about flowers?" The question caught the younger boy off guard.

"U-um… well, maybe I was… you know… doing some research… on symbolism… for, erm, extra credit. That's right. Certainly, I was not planning on _giving_ symbolic flowers to anyone…" Mitsuhiko coughed rather conspicuously and flicked his gaze to Haibara for a second, who was, as usual, ignoring him.

"Anyway, thanks again for the flowers, Ayumi." Conan flashed the younger girl a warm smile. He then sent Haibara a weird look, which she promptly returned with that insolent, sardonic expression that infuriated him so much.

"Hey, are we ever going to go to the park?" Genta complained, feeling neglected and left out of the conversation.

"At least wait until Ai-chan gives her flowers to Conan-kun!" Ayumi scolded Genta.

"It's not like anyone gets _me_ flowers for my birthday," Genta muttered sulkily.

Conan held out his hand expectantly in Haibara's direction, to which she merely glared at him. There was an awkward silence, and Haibara narrowed her eyes at the meitantei, pursing her lips in disgust. Her glare burned into Conan.

"What?" he asked, inching back slightly. "I only _assumed_ since Ayumi said you had flowers for me…" Haibara's glare fiercened. Conan flinched.

"Charming as ever, Edogawa-kun," she snapped.

Suddenly Conan's phone rang. Fumbling for it, he realized the ringtone wasn't for his "Conan phone" but rather his "Shinichi phone".

* * *

CALLER ID: Mouri Ran.

* * *

"A-ah," Conan grasped the cellphone tightly, backing away quickly. "I've got a call. Be right back. Keep those flowers for a few seconds!" He darted off down the street, turning sharply into a corner hidden from their sight. Gently, carefully, he placed Ayumi's bouquet on the cleanest patch of ground he could find, then adjusted his bowtie and finally answered the call.

Meanwhile, Genta was confused. "Why does Conan always run away when someone calls him?"

Mitsuhiko narrowed his eyes slightly. "He doesn't run away when someone calls him, he runs away when someone calls him _on that particular phone_." His gaze was suspicious. Haibara stood coolly. She knew he only bolted like that when Ran called him as 'Shinichi.'

_Better make it fast, Kudo. Or Tsuburaya-kun will figure something out._

"You should just leave him alone," Ayumi chided, staring forlornly at the corner where Conan disappeared into. "It's none of our businesses."

"Yeah, but we're the Shonen Tantei Dan," George argued. "It's not our fault we're naturally curious!"

Mitsuhiko ignored them, deep in thought, and the Haibara studied him. _Better hurry up, Kudo-kun. Tsuburaya looks like he might be on to something._

* * *

"Moshi-moshi? Ran?" Conan felt a familiar pang at the sound of his old voice.

"Ah, Shinichi. What's wrong with you? Are you still on that case?" Ran's voice was annoyed, bordering worry and underlain with sadness.

"Oh, I finished that case long ago," Conan replied hastily, purposely keeping his answer vague. Quickly, he changed the topic. "Anyway, why'd you call me?"

"What do you mean, you _finished_ it?" Ran ignored his question. "Come home already!"

Conan sighed audibly. "I want to Ran, really." His voice took on an almost wistful tone. He shook his head severely, and turned his tone crisp. "The thing is, see, another case came up just as I was about to leave." Conan's mind raced, improvising quickly. "It's really quite fascinating," he hurried on. "The victim was stabbed and strangled, and the possible murder weapons are nowhere to be found. Not only that, but it's a locked room murder, and the autopsy just came in. It's put a whole new spin on this. It seems that the _real_ cause of death wasn't but strangulation or a knife, but actually-"

"Alright, alright, I get it Shinichi!" Ran cut in impatiently. Conan silently breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't quite figured out what the cause of death was yet. "But do _you_ have to be the one solving all these cases?" Ran asked forlornly. "Can't you at least come home for your birthday?" Her voice was slightly bitter and slightly sorrowful.

"Oh yeah… today's my birthday," Conan glanced guiltily at Ayumi's bouquet as he feigned surprise. He was silent for a moment. Then, brightening his voice, he told Ran, "Birthday's _are_ a special occasion, eh? Especially mine." He grinned cheekily. "I'll try and wrap this case up quickly, okay? By my calculations, I can finish this up and be on the train home by… hmm… two or three. See you then!" He hung up quickly, pretending not to hear Ran's surprised voice on the other hand.

Conan guiltily pushing away the thought that he'd raised Ran's hopes with empty promises. Haibara hadn't recently given him any antidotes. Conan sighed heavily, tucking away the phone and the bowtie, glancing at his watch's glassy cover. It was 9 am. Picking up Ayumi's flowers and straightening them neatly, he walked out into the streets again. 5, or 6 hours at most, until Shinichi was supposed to magically appear.

* * *

"Sorry about that, guys." Conan ran up to them. "It was the wrong number."

"Then why did you take so long?" Mitsuhiko asked bluntly. Conan jerked his head in the boy's direction, surprised. A thousand emotions flickered through his deep blue eyes, and then smoothed over.

"The person refused to believe he had called the wrong number. He kept on wanting to talk to some 'Selin-kun' person. Finally I just hung up," Conan responded calmly. He flashed a look at his watch. "Besides, I've barely been gone five minutes."

"Boy, I'm hungry," Genta interrupted.

"Didn't you eat breakfast?" Ayumi asked exasperatedly. She wanted to get to the field.

"I only had_ three_ bowls today," Genta muttered.

Mitsuhiko ignored him, his gaze penetrating. "Then why did you go running as soon as you saw the number?" he asked Conan.

"I thought I recognized it. Turns out a few numbers were off," Conan replied nonchalantly.

Mitsuhiko tightened his mouth. "I don't think so. See, I've been doing some deductions myself, Conan-kun. And I've come to only one, extremely shocking, conclusion." Conan stared at him. "It might surprise you about how sharp my intuition can be." Conan pushed down his conflicting emotions. _There's no way he'd know. About **them**. About Shinichi Kudo. Impossible._

"Every single time someone calls you on _that_ phone, you go running." _**That** phone? He noticed I had two?_ Mitsuhiko noted Conan's surprised look with smug pride. He continued. "And piecing together some other clues, such as why you might have a _second _phone, I've reached an answer that I'm sure is 100% correct." There was something triumphant in his tone that set Conan on edge. He grit his teeth.

"What?"

"There's absolutely no other reason than that you, Edogawa Conan…" Mitsuhiko paused dramatically, "have a secret lover." Mitsuhiko stood proudly, absolutely sure of his deduction. "Whenever you pull out that special phone, which has a slightly different ringtone than your normal cellphone, your face goes all pink. Only a fool wouldn't realize what scandalous activity you were up to. You really think we wouldn't find out? And to think you've gone and broken these amazing ladies' hearts, who'd gone to all this trouble to give you beautiful, symbolic flowers. Who could possibly be better than them?" His voice was indignant. Conan was caught off-guard.

"You think I have a secret _lover_?" Conan asked incredulously, scorn thinly veiled in his tone. _As if he'd ever find out about **them**. I can't believe I was actually worried. _"We're _way_ too young to even be _thinking _about stuff like that!"

Mitsuhiko opened his mouth to protest.

"Tsuburaya-kun, that's enough." Haibara cut in, her tone annoyed. "Sometimes I change Conan-kun's ringtone just to see if he can tell the difference, and switch it back. As a tantei, he needs to keep his ears sharp. As for the pink, it usually happens because he's annoyed yet again that I changed his ringtone, and he runs off to set it back. It's extremely probable that he had to deal with an old man who was searching for 'Selin-kun' because I gave one old man a flyer about a boy named Matsuki Selin would do some chores when he needed them. I gave him Conan-kun's number. No doubt he won't call again. We need to make sure Edogawa-kun can quickly manipulate situations," Haibara lied smoothly, her face impassive. "Just under five minutes." Haibara sent a perfectly icy glare in Conan's direction. "You've done better before."

Mitsuhiko seemed overwhelmed by the deluge of information Haibara had dumped on him. Finally, he turned to Conan. "You've done this _multiple_ times?"

Conan scratched the back of his head with his free hand, simultaneously shooting Haibara a grateful look. "U-uh, yeah."

"Then why did you lie about the number?"

"I didn't lie," Conan explained, thinking fast. "I really thought it was somebody's I knew. You see, Heiji-niisan got a new phone number, and all the numbers but the last two digits were the same."

Mitsuhiko tilted his head ever so slightly. "I still feel like something's off…" He mumbled suspiciously. But he said no more, because he _hated_ it when Haibara called him "Tsuburaya-kun" instead of "Mitsuhiko-kun". She only did it when she was scolding him.

"Anyway," Haibara held out her bouquet as if it offended her presence.

Two warm golden daffodils curved gracefully and delicate, slender stalks of wine colored candy-tufts artfully contrasted the golden blossoms. An unusually full, beautiful aster was the centerpiece of the bouquet. The petals were a vivid sunset pink and in bursting with richness. The flowers were held together with a delicate, silky white ribbon. Conan's eyes widened in shock.

"Here," Haibara shoved it into Conan's free hand. "Happy birthday," she muttered ungraciously. "Can we go to the soccer field now?"

"Thanks Haibara," Conan said. He looked at the colorful arrangement of blossoms. "I only recognize the daffodils," he furrowed his brow. "What do those mean?"

Mitsuhiko opened his mouth to answer, but Haibara covered his mouth. "Allow me," she told him, a grin tugging her mouth. She looked straight into Conan's face, her eyes condescending. "Daffodils mean misfortune," she smirked.

"But that's only when there's one-" Mitsuhiko was cut off.

"Misfortune?" Conan spluttered. "Thanks a lot."

"The pleasure's all mine," Haibara shot back. "Those pretty purple blossoms clustered on those stalks are candy-tufts. They mean indifference." Her smile was infuriatingly self-satisfied. "The world doesn't revolve around you, I could care less most of the time." Conan gaped at her. Haibara continued, "The last one is an aster-"

Conan waved his hand quickly. "I don't want to hear what an aster symbolizes," he cut her off. "I'm sure it's just as sardonic as the other two meanings. And to think I thought daffodils were _cheerful_…" Conan muttered some profanities under his breath."I'll just quickly bring these upstairs and then we can go to soccer field." He turned tail and fled, shooting Haibara a sulky backwards look that clearly said: _If you were going to get me a gift, an antidote might've been more appreciated._

Haibara merely shrugged.

* * *

Conan ran up the stairs. _Trust Haibara to give me bright flowers with gloomy meanings. Misfortune? Indifference?_ _She's nice that way. _He would rather have had an antidote pill. Speaking of which… there was an uncomfortable lump protruding from the silky ribbon. _Do daffodils or candy-tufts have thorns? How about asters…?_ Conan was completely clueless. A tiny thought pricked at his mind.

Maybe…

He opened the door with some difficulty, found two slender glass vases, and fitted Ayumi's bouquet into the first. The crystalline water filled halfway up the neck of the vase. As for Haibara's flowers… with trembling fingers, he untied the ribbon. That lump… A scrap of paper seeming to enclose something oval shaped dropped to the ground, the pearly white ribbon fluttering down afterwards. Conan placed the bouquet into the second vase, then hurriedly knelt to retrieve the tiny package. He unfolded it, and instantly recognized Haibara's neat scrawl.

_Antidote. Lasts for approx. 24 hours. Use it wisely, lovesick tantei. _

Conan didn't know whether to feel relieved or pissed off. _Lovesick tantei?_ _Really? _A smooth pill packet rested in the palm of his hand. He tucked it in his pocket and zippered it, fingering the silk smooth surface of the ribbon. After playing around with the kids, he could meet Ran. The very thought lit him up inside. He closed the door gently, and flew down the stairs.

"Sorry to keep you waiting," Conan apologized, slightly breathless. "Let's go."

As the three kids ran ahead, Conan and Haibara fell behind. "Thanks for the antidote," he whispered quietly, patting his pocket lightly. Haibara didn't even glance in his direction, but she nodded almost imperceptibly and he could swear she was smiling slightly.

"Suddenly a change of mood," she responded in low tones. "Sometimes you seem bipolar." Her voice was tinged with sarcasm as if to remind him mere minutes ago he wanted to strangle her. Well, not really _strangle_ but…

An anger mark appeared on Conan's head. He bit back a stinging retort. _Why is she always like this? Just when I think she might be getting nicer, she shows her tsundere ice queen core. _He shook his head once. Girls. He never would understand them.

He ran on ahead, leaving Haibara behind. As he was jostled around by his friends, a happiness he hadn't felt in a long time stole over him. Carefree playing with the kids now, and meeting Ran as Shinichi later on. _What a nice birthday._

Absently, he wondered, yet again, what an aster symbolized.

Mitsuhiko, meanwhile, was trying to remember what an aster meant as well. But try as he might, he didn't remember. His main focus for… _extra credit_…was roses, so his info on other flowers was hazy. Giving up, he started lecturing Genta about street safety procedures. Haibara watched from behind, rolling her eyes fondly when Genta nearly pushed Conan in front of a speeding car. Maybe she even laughed slightly.

* * *

_Asters,_ Haibara thought faintly as Conan slipped his hand into the pocket with her antidote, no doubt thinking of Ran.

_The symbol of patience._

* * *

So? :O How was it? Like it? Don't? Sorry for the slightly sappy Haibara at the end. Alot of this is probably OOC. Sorry about that too._  
_

Ciao till next time~


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